


This War Of Us

by Saki_Yamanaka



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, This War of Mine (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Erwin is a reporter, Heavy Angst, Killing, Levi is an ex-militia, Maybe Gay, Violence, War, a bit fluff, this has no happy end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 19:05:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19447684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saki_Yamanaka/pseuds/Saki_Yamanaka
Summary: This is not a happy story nor does it have a happy ending. But it carries a messages. A messages far to important and far to powerful to ignore. It all started with a simple night, a night that would change their world forever.





	This War Of Us

**Author's Note:**

> The two of them meet in Pogore during a cold and lonely night. The war was going on and on, for weeks? Months? Maybe even years? They weren't sure how long it was going already or why it even started in the first place. Everything happened so fast.  
> They both were highly different from one another: Levi was one of the few People who joined the militia when the war started to defend his hometown. Erwin on the other hand was a reporter once, not a famous one but he surely got his spot in the media, now a mere citizen in a city destroyed by war and overcome by crime. Both of them could exactly recall how they meet. Levi helped him escape from a raider in and got saved by Erwin in return from the military with his quick thinking. They both had highly different views upon certain things, the war, survival, what was morally alright and what wasn't but they decided to stick together and survive this nightmare. They found a shelter, an old and bombed apartment house in one of the areas that was destroyed since the beginning of the war, and decided to stay there, make it their shelter and survive long enough to see the end of the war. Maybe even together?
> 
> [Gifted to the lovely Leikeima aka. My Darling~ from Discord]

“Fucking cold out there.” Levi blew in his hands, looking around. The house was in a pretty bad shape but honestly what was in a good shape anymore? Almost every building in the city was destroyed by the military forces, gunshots ringing in the distance even now during the day. His left leg throbbed at the sound of a gun firing away in the far distance. The wound there was not fresh but still healing, hurting like a bitch now and then. There were no real safe havens, only ruins turned into a shadow of a home or base. And in his opinion; they could've it worse. The house had several levels, two basement floors and two upper floors, making a total of five floors if you counted the base floor.  
“It will do!” shouted Erwin from the upper basement level. He climbed down there almost immediately after they arrived. “We should look around, maybe we can find a few things that are still usable and do something with them?” The last part of the sentence was disturbed by cluttering and rolling pieces of dirt. Seemed like Erwin was already looking through the piles of dirt and trash down there, even though his leg was wounded from a shot he earned a few days ago when he didn't check the corners of the plaza properly for snipers.  
Levi looked around. He stood where the entrance and living room may existed once. A half destroyed wooden stair led up to the next floor, a door next to the stair led through the kitchen. Levi decided to check that room first. Maybe there were some edible things left. He passed a lonely, cold crayon picture on the wall behind the stairs. A smiley sun, an elephant and a few butterflies smiled sad and lonely, their faces cracked by the cold of the winter and scarred from the time of war. Like everything else in this house was scarred from bombs, bullet holes and the war itself.  
They were lucky, the fridge survived and was still powered, but that was the only thing positive inside the kitchen. Because the fridge was empty, no food left. He cursed silently. Of course every sane person would take the food and make a run for it, he would've done it too. His attention shifted to the door leading out of the kitchen. It was blocked by some poor attempt of a barricade. Maybe there was something behind that could help them survive, like food or things with a high trading value. During a war money was as useless as a dead body, actually useful things like bandages, medicine, ammo or food were the things you traded. Levi decided to break that barricade and see, what was behind it.

  
Erwin on the other hand rummaged through an old desk in the basement, found a few parts and some electric stuff that looked good enough to use. Maybe, if they booth found some more, they could try to craft an oven or something like that to keep them war. After he was done with the desk he turned his attention to a dresser on it's right side, rummaging through the old rags. A few herbs, a lock picking tool, sugar and components was all he found. Not too bad, maybe they could trade the picking tool or use it themselves. He looked around. Nothing more in this tiled room, it seemed like an old washing room, like the one his mother had in her own house when he was little. Erwin decided to go a bit deeper, down to the next level of the basement, maybe he could find some wood down there that was still usable, burnable.

Levi was done with the door in the kitchen but sadly it was only the door to what he assumed must have been a bathroom long ago. The medical cabinet was still intact but empty, a huge hole was bombed inside the wall next to it, snow falling outside their hideout. “Shit. No Meds or bandages left here but I thought so already. Time to go upstairs then, seeing what I can find there!” he yelled, hoping Erwin would hear him. So far Levi only found like a big pile of nothingness and shitty news. He turned around and went back to the once-main hall and went upstairs. It was scary how damaged that hideout was. A giant hole from a bomb explosion went the down two floors, letting the cold inside the building. 'We need to fix that or we're gonna die because of the flu or a fucking cold or some shit like that' Levi thought while walking towards a small pile of trash. Maybe something was inside it that they could still use.

Erwin went down a makeshift ladder in the tiled room, probably left by the last residents of the house and found himself on the second and lowest level of the basement. Two doors, one on his right and one on his left, were his options too go as well as a little pile of things he could went through. The right door was blocked a some wooden bars he could easily remove so he decided to go there and find out was was inside it.

Levi smirked. A lot of still usable junk and wood were the result of his looting. Not too bad, they could work with those materials. Maybe he could find some more things when he looked around. The raven sat up again and went to the door next to the stairs, opened them. He stepped inside the little room. If he needed to guess he would have said this here was a smaller living room to meet up and drink coffee or something like that. A round table stood in on corner covered by a white blanket that once looked fancy and white he guess, now covered in dirt and mold. A delicate chandelier hung from the ceiling down right next to a ladder that led to the attic he assumed. He didn't spared a second glance toward that thing and started to look for something valuable, useful for them. “Yes.” he breathed shallow and grinned at his loot. Mechanical parts, some more wood and Water! Clean water to drink or cook with! It could be a lot worse. Levi decided to go into the attic and look for stuff there. He walked towards the old, improvised latter that led up into the roof and climbed it without hesitation

Erwin also was rather happy with his loot. A few vegetables, a piece of raw food, a few herbs, sugar, water, parts and some electronic parts. He looked around the small room. There was a metal cabinet in the far end of the room but it was blocked of by concrete parts blocking his way. Proof of the war, like he called them. Erwin tried to figure out if he should remove them and try to got to the cabinet but deemed it not worth his time. There were more important things to do and he could always look at this cabinet later. If he survived long enough. The blond one walked out the door, back into the small room where the ladder lead into the upper floors of their hideout, and took a look at the pile behind the ladder. He rummaged through it and pulled two water bottles, still drinkable, wood and a lot of mechanical parts. Erwin know that there were only those blocking piles of dirt in the basement, he needed those gone, Levi was looking for valuable things upstairs and he didn't want to disturb the raven one so that meant only one action for him: removing the dirt piles to take a better look at some things that they blocked. Maybe he was lucky, found some canned food or so. But he decided against it and went back upstairs. He run into the room with the ladder leading into the ground level of the house and smiled slightly as he looked at the worn out working bench there. Whoever lived here was in love with handcrafting things so they at least had someplace to build easy constructions. Erwin knew that there were some pallets in the tiled room and a few old mattresses that were most likely meant to be thrown away before the war broke out. He went to grab them and hammered them together, he even found an old and dirty pillow in the washing machine. Even if Levi would hate to use it, it would do better than anything else, they couldn't be choosers beggars right now. He heaved the mattress on top of the pallets and threw the pillow onto it. The whole construction was build near the door, the only way into the room. If someone wanted to disrupt their sleep or steal their stuff the would know. Erwin shivered. It was really cold. “I'm chilled to the bones. We need to heat this place up quickly” he muttered, watching his breath turn to mist. He got back to the workbench and looked around. An old metal barrel caught his eye. If he tricked a bit around and added a few parts he could turn this into a fireplace to heat this little hellhole up a bit.

Levi finished removing the pile of dirt blocking in his way in one of the attics rooms and spotted another dresser. He quickly went to search through it and collected the things he deemed usable: herbs, some water, a bit of sugar, two little lamps and a spring lock. He went to the door on the far left next to the ladder, but it was locked. He huffed and decided to meet up with Erwin, figuring out what to do now. He climbed down the ladder and almost stumble when he went down the broken wooden stairs. The raven tried to ignore the happy painting on the wall and almost managed it. Levi shook his head as he went down the ladder into the basement. He locked left and just stared at Erwin who stood next to an old workbench, fiddling with a small metallic thing. “And what the fuck do you thing you're doing?” he asked, climbing down the last few decimeters. The blond flashed him a happy smile and hold the device up. “A radio.” Levi blinked. “If we managed to get this radio running again we will be able to get information about the war, maybe figuring out when it ends.” The raven nodded. Of course. “But I doubt that there will be useful information. Most of the time it will be a bunch of bullshit.”  
“Then we can try to get some music programs running or so.”  
“You're fucking serious?”  
“What else are we supposed to do? It's too dangerous going outside during the day. You remember what happened to this old man? He got shot in the fucking head, right before our eyes trying to cross the street. I don't want this to happen to neither you nor me.”  
“But I know how they work, I could get outside and gather supplies or even-”  
“Levi NO!” Erwin cut him off, looked down at him. “No one who's living in this hideout is going outside during the day. I don't want to see you die like that old man and I don't care how well you know their tactics. One lucky idiot is enough to get you killed, no mater how skilled you are.”  
Levi tried to argue but one look into the eyes of the blond one shut him up. He nodded. “Alright. No trips during the day. But you can't stop me from going outside in the night to gather things for us.”  
“I wasn't planning on doing so, I'm not that stupid. Just... be careful.” Levi huffed amused.  
“When am I not careful?”  
Erwin laughed. “Oh, I don't know? Maybe that one time I saved your ass from the military with my reporter passport and convinced them that we were in fact only here to gather information for a podcast?”  
“Touche. But you still haven't told me why you can't use that same tactic to bring us both outta here.” Erwin sighed sadly.  
“My pass isn't up to date, actually it isn't valid since last year anymore. I may be able to trick some lousy soldiers but it won't work at an actual control point. And how would I explain you? None of us has valid documents anymore, they wouldn't let us out. The only option for us is to try and survive till the end of this hell right now.” Levi was silent. “I see.” the smaller male moved towards the ladder leading down. “I want to see if there's something down there”  
“Only dirt piles blocking the way. I planned on removing them tomorrow.”  
“Well, how about I remove them, you focus on making this place a bit warmer. I'm so fucking cold I can feel my teeth hurting from the fucking air as if I'm biting into ice or shit like that.” Erwin chuckled. “Of course.” Levi ignored the remark and went down the ladder, focusing on removing the dirt in the right room. Erwin fiddled a little longer with the radio, got it working with a silent cry of joy. He immediately tried to get a few signals. He listened closely to the news.  
“Coffee is harder to get every passing day in the war rotten Pogore. It's speculated that the prices on the black market will go up”  
Erwin turned the radio, tried another frequency.  
“The international community has started negotiations regarding the possibility of a military intervention in Graznavia to force a armistice and ensure the humanitarian aid for the civil people.”  
Erwin dared to hope that those were good news. The reporter started rumbling of interview dates so he switched the frequency again.  
“The following days should be still warm. Perfect weather to go for a walk in the park!”  
He frowned. The female reporter was insane. It was minus grades. Whoever went for a walk in a park in these temperatures it sure as hell was no one Erwin knew.  
He only found two music channels but he wasn't in the mood to hear classical or rock music right now, not to mention the fact that he needed to go and search for supplies and start a fire in their makeshift fireplace. Erwin took a few of the wooden bars he gathered and started to break them into smaller pieces. A hard task considering he lacked an ax. It would take at least one hour to get this pieces into a size that would fit into the narrow opening of the barrel.

Levi huffed. He finally had remove the last piles of dirt and cleared a path for himself. The raven squeezed himself through the passage and went towards the cabinet Erwin saw earlier. It was locked but luckily he had a lock pick with him. It was a matter of minutes and the door swung open. Levi just starred into the cabinet. Medicine and a few books. The books weren't that usable, they could burn them if needed to but the medicine was like fucking gold. If they were careful enough and didn't get ill they could sell those pills for a loot of food and supplies. He grabbed them and made his way up again. He was greeted by warmth. Erwin stood next to the fireplace, grinning. A fire was burning and wood laid next to the it. “Well, at least it's not cold anymore.” Levi huffed and pulled the pills out of his pockets. “Found them, not much but we can try and not use them to sell them for something of more value to us, food or maybe some bandages. My leg hurts like a bitch.” Erwin nodded and gestured towards the bed.  
“Then try to rest a bit. If you really wanna get out you should be rested and try to give your body a bit of extra time to heal.”  
“Sounds good.” Levi limped towards the bed, looked at it in mild disgust but shrugged. He slept in worse places, he would survive it considering he didn't really had a choice.  
Erwin went down again. “I want to know what's in the left room.” he said before sliding down the ladder. The blond opened the door to the left and looked into a flooded room with another door at the end. Cartons and dirt were pilled and pushed towards the walls. Erwin opened the second door and looked towards a giant pile of debris. “Fantastic.” he sighed and started to remove it slowly. Erwin and Levi needed to do a lot of work at this hideout. They had holes everywhere, they needed to be fixed if they wanted to have a safer haven against raiders. And they needed coffee and cigarettes. Erwin was dying for a cup of coffee and he knew that Levi would get really grumpy when he didn't smoke. Erwin managed to remove the pile of debris but was greeted by another one. He sighed. If he wasn't wrong nightfall was close and Levi wanted to go and search for supplies for them. The taller male climbed back upstairs and looked at Levi. The raven one was shouldering his backpack and zipping up his jacket to keep him warm. They locked eyes.  
“I'll be back at dawn. When I'm not back by then it's highly unlike I make it back anymore.” he said. Erwin nodded. Levi made his way up to the main hall. He saw the white flocks of snow dancing out there. Without any hesitation he went out and headed into the darkness of the night. There was a destroyed apartment complex near them somewhere north-west, maybe ten or fifteen minutes by foot.

**NIGHT**

  
It was a horrible sight. Levi knew that this apartment complex was the tribune for a lot of bloody fights. He himself fought in some of them. Most of the people who lived there left before he Vyseni-Rebels clashed with the military at the place. The fights however where now over, the front line was  
somewhere more north towards the center of the city. Still no one came here anymore, they didn't felt safe here any longer. Or they were dead. Levi shook his head, looked around. “It's fucking silent... Not a good sign.” he muttered and slowly waled towards the complex. He stared at the gruesome sight. A tank laid to his left, dead soldiers rotting in the snow, forgotten by their comrades, right next to an now empty playground for children. He looked at a pile of debris next to the playground and went there, searched through it. A few parts, a piece of wood that seemed usable, raw food that somehow survived the fights and a bullet were all he found but he could use those things. He cursed at the fact the he needed to get rid of his gun when he fled from the militia. But he needed to look like a civilian to them. So he hadn't much choices.  
The raven shook his head. Don't think about those times, concentrate! He scolded himself, looking towards the apartment. He needed to go inside the building, look around, maybe he found some still usable things. The front of the building had collapsed and laid barren before him. Levi climbed the debris of the once-wall and found himself in a room that once served as a living room if he needed to guess. He went through the things there and cursed. A bit raw food, parts and some wood as well as a broken toy. He didn't know what else he could find so he better took everything he could. They always could go to the black market and tread. Or so he hoped. Levi walked out the door frame of the apartment, he was sure that no one beside him was here. At least no one who was still alive. Levi stepped into the floor that led up to the upper apartments through a staircase. A door on the other wall led to another apartment. A few boxes laid next to it, maybe something useful was inside. The raven stepped closer to them but stopped. His eyes lingered on a stroller under the stars. It wasn't empty. A few things cluttered it. A rattle, a laughing red crab which was chewed thoroughly by a baby and a half empty bottle full of a disgusting mass that used to be baby food. “Whoever used these seemed to have run away in a hurry... Or doesn't need those anymore.” Levi muttered. He didn't wanted to think about the last part, he saw enough dead men and children. To think that this apartment was attack and costed the life of an infant child... He turned away, toward the boxes and rummage through them. He needed to focus. He and Erwin needed to survive this hellhole called Pogore.  
Another bullet, a self made garret, a rotten tomato, electric and normal parts as well as a few things from a gun repair tool were the things he found. But Levi couldn't take everything with him, he needed to decide. He grabbed the parts, the ammo and the cigarette, he needed one so badly. He left the stack and opened the door to his right, always listening if someone came by the complex. He may was trained in combat and could use several weapons but if other raiders arrived here he doubted that he could wield them of without a weapon.  
The door lead into a one way apartment. The door to the bedroom was blocked by heavy wooden bars and concrete piles he couldn't move so he focused on the room itself. Two chairs around a table were the only thing in the room beside some cabinets he rummaged through. He found some more parts and wood, a cigarette from an automate, another bullet that was still usable, rotten food, a few vegetables. Levi decided to leave the broken toy he found outside here as well as the electric part and the rotten food, took the bullet and some other parts instead. “I still have time to check the upper levels. Maybe there are some useful things upstairs.” The raven made his way up the wooden stairs. The staircase lead up into another small floor, the apartment on the left was blocked by some metal bars, like the doors in the made shift prison he was guarding from time to time as a militia. On his right side however, were no such bars blocking the apartment. It was nonexistent. The entire upper flats have seemed to collapsed onto this one, leaving only the entrance of it intact. Levi still took a closer look at the debris piles. Nothing useful there, he cursed. He took another staircase end ended up on the upper floors. One of the doors was hanging inside hits hinges and the other apartment was locked by the same bars as the one below. Some people seemed to thought that they maybe could protect their homes that way. How naive they were. Levi looked around the room and started to loot it, gunshots from an MG ringing in the distance. Levi sighed. He needed to leave the cigarette and the ammo behind. He knew they needed the materials more than useless ammunition and guilt pleasure, so he traded them for a few more wooden bars, hide them inside the pile. Maybe they would still be there when he came back. Since he saw no need to linger here any longer he decided to make a run towards the exit and return to his hideout safely.


End file.
